After nearly two years of fighting, Syria’s vaunted war machine is showing serious cracks as emboldened rebels snap up more bases and airfields and force army units to retrench behind defensive lines in major cities, Western officials and military analysts say.

Bolstered by a steady flow of arms from foreign backers, opposition forces have scored a series of tactical victories in the Damascus suburbs in recent days and are advancing steadily toward the city’s airport, adding to what some analysts view as a sense of momentum that has been building since late summer.

Powerful antitank and antiaircraft weapons have helped level what was once a lopsided contest, the officials say, so much so that army commanders have been unable or unwilling to challenge rebel assaults on large military bases on the capital’s outskirts.

“The regime isn’t intervening to defend its positions,” said Jeffrey White, a former Middle East military analyst with the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency. “And when it does try to counterattack, it often fails.”

The rebel should start publicly gunning down army officers outside of battle again and see how quickly they start deserting. Also what's the Syrian equivalent of West Point? That'd make a nice bombing target...

The rebel should start publicly gunning down army officers outside of battle again and see how quickly they start deserting. Also what's the Syrian equivalent of West Point? That'd make a nice bombing target...

The top military leadership are Alawite and they know they won't fare well under any circumstances. Might as well go down fighting. It really isn't possible to separate the "good guys" from the "bad guys".

I feel like the red avatars around here could benefit from reading this

There's hordes of logical fallacies in that article, but I'll give the author credit for putting forward a point that consists of more than:

1-OMG THIS IS JUST LIKE IRAQ/VIETNAM!2-NO TO IMPERIALISM!3-Any intervention would provide benefit to US/European businesses, therefore it's not truly humanitarian, therefore Gaddafi/Assad is the better guy.4-Right wing talking points about the opposition all being al Qaeda terrorists.

Because that type of junk is literally all I've seen on DU whenever anyone criticizes an Obama military intervention like in Libya or the sending military advisors to Uganda. (It's a minority of course, but too vocal of one.) In hindsight it makes me realize that lots of anti-Iraq War types relied on really stupid bumper sticker slogans instead of real arguments, but since I was on the same side as them and saw the pro-war side as far worse I didn't even notice it/care.

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.

The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.

Hmm, this is not good ...

If this is not just a tactic to scare the rebels and they are actually using it, the US and others should probably intervene there based on a UN mandate and wipe out the Assad regime.

And this is coming from a left-winger like me, but the consequences of using these weapons would probably justify a mission to get rid of the regime in a hopefully quick way.

But the situation there and what might happen with the chemical bombs if the allied forces are invading are just ... nuts.

What invading forces? Just wipe out the Syrian Air Force (The entire Libyan Air Force was basically annihilated in two days) and then hit all the chemical weapons delivery systems with a bunch of cruise missiles.

What invading forces? Just wipe out the Syrian Air Force (The entire Libyan Air Force was basically annihilated in two days) and then hit all the chemical weapons delivery systems with a bunch of cruise missiles.

This. Basically, Assad using his WMDs would pretty much justify what we did to Ghadaffi. Basically our goal won't be regime change, but simply to prevent genocide.

The main problem is, any attack on Assad's WMD's is likely to release them, not simply destroy them. It's why it is essentially impossible for a pre-emptive strike to be done, since we would in effect be releasing chemical agents that would undoubtedly affect nearby civilian areas. Indeed, if Assad is smart, he likely has chosen to mix those chemicals near civilian areas.

Logged

Quote from: Ignatius of Antioch

He that possesses the word of Jesus, is truly able to bear his very silence. — Epistle to the Ephesians 3:21a

Well, Assad could attempt a genocide against non-Allawites if he knows hes not going to be more than another month or two in order to position his sect to have more power in the future of Syria. Then again, the powers might be might partitition Syria between Allawites, Kurds, Sunni Arabs and perhaps even Arab Christians.

Well, Assad could attempt a genocide against non-Allawites if he knows hes not going to be more than another month or two in order to position his sect to have more power in the future of Syria. Then again, the powers might be might partitition Syria between Allawites, Kurds, Sunni Arabs and perhaps even Arab Christians.

Uh, what? Alawites are only 10% of Syria's 22 million population. Even a Hitler-like madman can't change that fact in two months.

The most rational thing for him to do is to gather all his most loyal army officers and send them to the Alawite coastal strip, order them to cleanse out non-Alawites and other undesirables from the mountainous strip, and then fly a helicopter to pick him up from Damascus at midnight. Then, plead for international peacekeepers to defend the Alawites from what will definitely be desires for revenge. Bonus, continue allowing Russia access to the Port of Tartus in exchange for Russia continuing to support the remnants of Assad-controlled Syria. The last part would be like the US supporting the last remnant of KMT-controlled China.

Well, Assad could attempt a genocide against non-Allawites if he knows hes not going to be more than another month or two in order to position his sect to have more power in the future of Syria. Then again, the powers might be might partitition Syria between Allawites, Kurds, Sunni Arabs and perhaps even Arab Christians.

Uh, what? Alawites are only 10% of Syria's 22 million population. Even a Hitler-like madman can't change that fact in two months.

The most rational thing for him to do is to gather all his most loyal army officers and send them to the Alawite coastal strip, order them to cleanse out non-Alawites and other undesirables from the mountainous strip, and then fly a helicopter to pick him up from Damascus at midnight. Then, plead for international peacekeepers to defend the Alawites from what will definitely be desires for revenge. Bonus, continue allowing Russia access to the Port of Tartus in exchange for Russia continuing to support the remnants of Assad-controlled Syria. The last part would be like the US supporting the last remnant of KMT-controlled China.

That actually makes sense instead of killing 300,000 people and perhaps chasing out anouther 1,000,000 in 2 months of sustained gassing in order to become a somewhat larger of a minority. That would probably create a Rwandan-style repraisal. This way, Assad would still have to commit a somewhat smaller of a genocide but he could be the Taiwan of post Cold-War dictators of a small country of about 2 million people. But this gets us back to the main point. Having a genocide at the next door of the western world at this magnitude is simply unacceptable and worse creates a very slippery slope towards making genocide a tolerated fact of life. This is why we need to start an air campaign over Syria if any are released and if people are still dying after a week, we really should put troops on the ground if we can at least NATO on board....though maybe Assad already knows this and he is just bluffing and the course of the war will continue on its current trajectory of Assad losing sometime next year or Syria becoming the next Sudan for years to come.

Well, Assad could attempt a genocide against non-Allawites if he knows hes not going to be more than another month or two in order to position his sect to have more power in the future of Syria. Then again, the powers might be might partitition Syria between Allawites, Kurds, Sunni Arabs and perhaps even Arab Christians.

Uh, what? Alawites are only 10% of Syria's 22 million population. Even a Hitler-like madman can't change that fact in two months.

The most rational thing for him to do is to gather all his most loyal army officers and send them to the Alawite coastal strip, order them to cleanse out non-Alawites and other undesirables from the mountainous strip, and then fly a helicopter to pick him up from Damascus at midnight. Then, plead for international peacekeepers to defend the Alawites from what will definitely be desires for revenge. Bonus, continue allowing Russia access to the Port of Tartus in exchange for Russia continuing to support the remnants of Assad-controlled Syria. The last part would be like the US supporting the last remnant of KMT-controlled China.

See:

Curious what the Alawites of Iskenderun think about Turkey's involvement in the Syrian civil war.

This is why we need to start an air campaign over Syria if any are released and if people are still dying after a week, we really should put troops on the ground if we can at least NATO on board....though maybe Assad already knows this and he is just bluffing and the course of the war will continue on its current trajectory of Assad losing sometime next year or Syria becoming the next Sudan for years to come.

But wouldn't bombing canisters containing poison gas, you know, release them? And if Assad's smart he's located the weapons depots near crowded urban areas to prevent just that from happening.